VillaFaninLondon

Some difficult selection decisions for this one. Gerrard said we’d make a couple of changes but no idea who comes out.
 

I can see Coutinho coming back in but for who I don’t know - surely not Buendia who was our best player at Burnley, Ings-Watkins partnership is looking good and both are scoring. 
 

Then there is Chambers at DM and the defence. I’d be tempted to drop Chambers back into CB and bring Nakamba in for Konsa who once again was poor against Burnley, but not sure he’ll do that. 

All I want to see in this one is we play to our best and cause them some problems, we can’t go gung ho but equally can’t put 10 men behind the ball all game. Best way to take something is on the break with Ollie running in behind their high line but of course it’s likely we lose. Best result for Gerrard will be a battling Villa performance and a narrow loss, then he keeps both sets of fans onside.

A very good performance on the whole, we actually improved after half time rather than got worse despite being 2-0 up.

My only gripe is that stupid goal we gifted them at the end, completely and utterly avoidable and a clean sheet gone.

Stupid goal to give away. 

Carney is such a talent, I really hope he doesn't leave us.

3-0, fantastic attacking performance.

When we're on it we're a bloody good side.

5 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

2-0, great.

However, 60/40 possession in Burnley's favour, if Gerrard wants us to become a possession team we have a long, LONG way to go.

basically 60/40 possession, in the oppositions favour versus both Norwich and Burnley, we arent anywhere near a possession team are we.

We have so little possession for two reasons: 1) Because our CM are cowards and go missing, I've barely noticed McGinn today as he;'s barely touched the ball; and 2) we revert to hoofball when we're winning instead of trying to keep the ball. 

When we do try to keep the ball we usually put ourselves in trouble because we pass around our 18 yard box instead of getting the ball into pockets in the midfield.

Both games we battered this lot last season yet today we've been pretty poor in this game but clinical. 

One more should kill the game but we can't afford to be complacent and need to be better with the ball. When we play they can't handle it but we seem to want to just go long with Martinez all the time.

1 minute ago, MaVilla said:

i thought in that one (if im thinking of the same match), we went 1-0 up, missed over 9000 chances in the first half, then went 3-1 down in the second half, and we then pulled one back to make it 3-2, ending 3-2?

No you're both wrong, we were 1-0 up, then 1-1, then 2-1 up, then lost 3-2.

Konsa nearly cost us a goal.

Martinez is the God at shithousing.

Yes Emi!!!

Gotta stop McNeil getting crosses in.

Get in. What a pass by Buendia. 

Terrible by Ings. That was a chance.

5 minutes ago, useless said:

Cornet isn't playing he's on the bench. But still think we will be playing our usual formation with Chambers as DM. Basically it's a way of keeping Chambers in the team, and not leaving out Konsa, for all the criticism Konsa has had recently he's still been one of our best players since returning to to Premier League, so can understand not wanting to leave him out too much, kept a clean sheet the last time he started.

Konsa was great last season but this season has been sub par and though he played against Leicester and kept a clean sheet he looked very ropey especially on the ball.

Hopefully we see a better performance from him today. 

2 minutes ago, useless said:

Cornet for them usually occupies a position between the midfield and striker, I imagine Chambers has been selected specifically to mark him.

Cornet isn't playing he's on the bench. 

Just now, Mr_Dogg said:

With the right personnel it's not negative and it's not 5 at the back, see Chelsea and Spurs.

Yeah, fair point. It didn't work under Smith but we've since added better players in certain positions so it will be interesting to see if it works today.

2 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said:

 

Interesting team, not sure what to make of it. Guessing Chambers is playing as a DM, or at least I hope, as 5 at the back is very negative. 

Just now, sne said:

Not if you look at performances this season.

Guess it could look different under different managers and systems.

Shows what a job Arteta has done there this season in all honesty and how bad we have been. The fact there is a 23-point gap between us is hard to take. 

Personally I think Spuds have much better players than Arse in most positions but will probably finish behind them in 5th. 

18 minutes ago, sne said:

Most of them?

Wrong.

2 hours ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

1 win in last 26 visits to Turf Moor

 

Fully expecting more of this

 

That is a truly woeful record considering it's Burnley (without any disrespect intended). We've got a better record at Anfield and even Old Trafford. 

It's not an easy ground to go to but we should have done much better than that over the years. 

4 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Decent shout, i'd actually be tempted to test Iroegbunam again and bring on Nakamba if it's too much for him.

I'd probably want to see us go 4 - 3 - 1 - 2 :

 

                                  Ollie                       Ings

                                             Coutinho

                        McGinn                              Buendia

                                           Iroegbunam

 

                Digne        Mings              Chambers         Cash

 

                                              Martinez

 

Midfield diamond. Is JJ confirmed injured? 

No Luiz for me, as I don't know if he's staying.

     

 

Ramsey is most likely out, if he is I'd like to see Luiz as an 8 even if he may leave this summer. I like Tim and he did pretty well against Norwich but think we need more experience for this one so would go Nakamba if he's ready. Buendia in CM isn't a bad shout though. 

My team for this would be:

Martinez

Cash Chambers Mings Digne

McGinn Nakamba Luiz

Buendia Coutinho

Watkins/Ings

We should be looking to win this because we need to finish this season as strongly as possible. We dominated both games against Burnley last season and got 1 point, need to ensure that doesn't happen again.

Surely Burnley can't win four games in a row, very few teams manage that in this league, but we can be such an ever obliging team. First things first match them for work rate and be up for a battle because it will be one. I hope the ref ensures they don't get away with any dirty tackles. 

We should be looking at 7-9 points from Burnley x 2 and Palace so that we give ourselves a chance of finishing higher than last season. Anything against Plop and City is a bonus. A draw at Burnley wouldn't necessarily be a bad result if we can beat them at home but we could really do with winning before the Liverpool game. 

Have that City